[LINK] No go on Internet treaty

[Jan Whitaker]

Australia, US refuse to sign internet treaty

Matt Smith and Joseph Menn
Published: December 14, 2012 - 12:48PM

An attempt by governments to establish a worldwide policy for 
oversight of the internet collapsed after many Western countries said 
a compromise plan gave too much power to United Nations and other officials.

Delegates from Australia, the US, UK and other countries took the 
floor on the second-last day of a UN conference in Dubai to reject 
revisions to a treaty governing international phone calls and data traffic.

"It's with a heavy heart and a sense of missed opportunities that the 
US must communicate that it's not able to sign the agreement in the 
current form," said Terry Kramer, the US ambassador to the gathering 
of the UN's International Telecommunication Union.

"It is greatly disappointing that a consensus could not be reached," 
Australia's Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said in a 
statement. "Australia worked hard to develop suitable text for the 
International Telecommunications Regulations that would have been 
acceptable to every member state. Unfortunately, this was not achieved."

While other countries will sign the treaty on Friday, the absence of 
so many of the largest economies means the document, already watered 
down to suit much of the West, will have little practical force.

Though technologists who had raised alarms about the proceedings 
preferred no deal to one that would have legitimised more government 
censorship and surveillance, the failure to reach an accord could 
increase the chance that the internet will work very differently in 
different regions.

"Maybe in the future we could come to a fragmented internet," said 
delegate Andrey Mukhanov, a top international official at Russia's 
Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications. "That would be negative 
for all, and I hope our American, European colleagues come to a 
constructive position."

Delegates from the US and other holdout countries said they would 
continue to press at other international gatherings for unified 
support of what they call a "multi-stakeholder model," in which 
private industry groups set standards and play a large role in the 
development of the medium.

Countries that had been seeking an expansion of the ITU role reacted 
with bitterness to the failure to reach a consensus.

Tariq al-Awadhi of the United Arab Emirates, head of the Arab States' 
delegation, said his group had been "double-crossed" by the US bloc 
after it had agreed to a compromise deal that moved internet issues 
out of the main treaty and into a non-binding resolution that said 
the ITU should be part of the multi-stakeholder model.

"Unfortunately, those countries breached the compromise package and 
destroyed it totally," said Awadhi. "We have given everything and are 
not getting anything."

Awadhi said the treaty should cover all forms of telecommunications, 
including voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and internet-based 
instant messaging services. "They are using telecom network and using 
telecom services," he said.

Kramer said the US had negotiated in good faith but that there were 
several issues that made agreement impossible, including the 
resolution's recognition of an ITU role.

He said a section on reducing unwanted emails known as spam, for 
example, opened the door toward government monitoring and blocking of 
political or religious messages.

The turnabout was a defeat for ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure, 
who had previously predicted "light-touch" internet regulation would 
emerge from the conference.

But he said the 12-day meeting "has succeeded in bringing 
unprecedented public attention to the different and important 
perspectives that govern global communications."

The treaty is scheduled to be signed at 1.30pm GMT on Friday (12.30am 
Saturday AEDT).

Reuters and Fairfax Media

This story was found at: 
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/australia-us-refuse-to-sign-internet-treaty-20121214-2bdsf.html 




Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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